Deathly Hallows: The Reading - Last Chapter
by Nikki-Love013
Summary: The final chapter in "Deathly Hallows: The Reading". For those of who don't know - my previous story was deleted with only this chapter unfinished. Well, here it is! Finally! Enjoy! (And dont forget to check out my new and improved version, which I am in the process of reposting!)


**Right, so the last chapter. I'm trying hard not to think of that. Unless, of course, we decide to do the epilogue. And then there's my revision…wow, I can't believe I'm crazy enough to actually do it all over again, but I am. So make sure you check that out **** It would be a lot better than my earlier work, seeing as I (hopefully) progressed after all this time. It's just…I was looking through my earlier work, and I wasn't as impressed by my work as I use to be. Still, high school's been crazy - ive literally had no time at all. You get the business. But ah well, for now, just enjoy the last chapter.**

**Oh and yes, after a year of all this hard work and hardship, I'm looking forward to reviews **** Even from those who have never pressed that beautiful button down at the bottom **

Somewhere, far off over the horizon, the sun was setting. The truth behind the yellow and orange rays settling over the grounds of Hogwarts was a simple one. It sang of endings, of new beginnings, of bringing peace. It brought forth seven years' worth of memories to all be wrapped up in one final moment. Seven years of fight and of struggle all gone in one spec of truth.

And for that, no one could stop the small smile from creeping up on their lips. Maybe it wasn't just the promise of end that made them happy, but it sure was a major part…It was also the little girl, infant between her ancient brothers, smiling and crying and laughing and promising yet another family to be happy again. Maybe it was the way Aberforth smiled, something no one had ever seen in all their years at his shop. Or maybe it was simply the way Albus's eyes twinkled brighter than ever before, which they all knew at times could be very, very bright.

Harry watched his headmaster laugh at something his sister said. They had taken a bit of a break from the book, as did everyone else, trying to swim in the last bit of happiness they had before returning back to the hardest, longest and perhaps saddest chapter there was. And yet, at the same time, it was much, much more; happy, triumphant, even bittersweet. He knew it was going to be the hardest and most emotional one yet, and that's saying something given all the other chapters.

Perhaps the reminder that it was the final chapter would keep the emotions at bay and the chapter semi-bearable.

Everyone already knew what happened, of course. Yet like everything else in the book, the surprise was in the perspective. Harry fidgeted at the reminder. Everyone pretty much knew what happened; they only wanted to hear it from Harry's point of view. What had happened after he woken up from King's Cross? When his body disappeared during battle? When Neville stole the sword? When he defeated Voldemort?

What was he thinking, when his friends cried out to his 'corpse'?

He looked away from his Headmaster and to his parents. Sirius was shoveling food into his mouth, no doubt happy to have some Hogwarts food after years of Azkaban. And if Harry looked a little to the left, an identical man sat next to him, slightly younger, chewing on his own food. Regulus slurped the last of his orange juice, and Sirius tipped the cup to pour all down his front. He looked happy, thought Harry, a lot happier than he cared to admit after having gotten his brother back.

Remus was with Tonks, shoveling food into Teddy's mouth, and Harry had to suppress a laugh as Teddy smeared some in Sirius's face. Regulus told him it was karma. Sirius told him to shut up.

James and Remus roared with laughter, Teddy joining in. Harry's heart swelled as he watched the life he never had play before his eyes.

He had it now.

Harry smiled and decided to join them.

"Harry!" came a voice. He wheeled around and watched as his mother wrapped him in a tight embrace. After a few moments he pulled back.

"What was that for?"

He could tell her throat was tight. The latest chapter must have been hard for her to read, he figured. Having your son so close to death was not something parents like to read about.

"I just love you," she said. Harry was spared the trouble of having to reply, which his throat was just as tight and he knew impossible, as Dumbledore returned to the Podium. He didn't say a word. The smiles and laughter quickly left the faces of everyone, and there a shift in the room. A chill, as they remembered where the last chapter ended.

A very loved seventeen year old sacrificing himself for his loved ones.

Dumbledore waited a few seconds for everyone to get comfortable, and in a light tone, read, **"The Flaw in the Plan."**

No one dared breathe.

**He was flying facedown on the ground again. **

Hagrids lip trembled with the effort of remaining calm. That had been the worst moment of his life. The jet of green light rushing at Harry had been nothing compared to his lifeless body on the cold, hard ground. He remembers watching the body for any miraculous signs of movement or life, his eyes burning into Harry's own until they were too overcome with tears of anger and grief to continue. Because when he looked, he didn't see a lifeless Harry Potter. In fact, he was more alive than ever. He was the little boy chasing Hedwig; he was the little boy getting him out of Azkaban; he was the little boy visiting for some treacle tart with Ron and Hermione…and above all, he was the little boy that had suffered so much and lived so little. Had loved so much and loved fiercely in return. And in that moment, he could have sworn the man lying on the ground was as small as the little boy he picked up on the cave.

**The smell of the forest filled his nostrils. He could feel the cold hard ground beneath his cheek, and the hinge of his glasses which have been knocked sideways by the fall cutting into his temple.**

Sirius gritted his teeth together. The description of the one thing he ever feared was all too vivid and real. And all too much like his own father, James, when he had found him that night on Halloween. The way his body was angled, the way his glasses sat askew on his face, the way he looked right at Sirius but didn't see anything…

James was hard enough. He was his best friend. But with Harry, it was different. He was nothing short of a man and like a son to Sirius. He'd loved Harry all his life, even when Harry wrongly hated him. He'd loved him even more for the three short years they had together. And to have his biggest fear come true…

"They're here now, Sirius," said a voice next to his ear, making him jump. It was his aunt, Tonk's mother. The only blood family that had stood by his side. Her words echoed in his brain, and numbly, he nodded. She was right, after all. If he looked a little to the left – but for some reason he couldn't – he would see the two people who mean more to him than anything else. Very much alive. And very much breathing.

**Every inch of him ached, and the place where Killing Curse had hit him felt like the bruise of an iron-clad punch. **

"Is there…is there another scar?" asked a Hufflepuff lightly. "Lightning scar?"

Harry shook his head, looking uneasy. "Well, not lightning, anyway."

Ginny eyed Harry curiously, and then ran her hands over his shirt and lifted it. She paled slightly at the sight of the new scar – another reminder of what could have happened, of what Voldemort did – as did everyone else.

"It's no Hungarian Horntail," whispered Ginny, eyes still glued to his new surviving scar. "But it'll do."

Harry smiled weakly.

**He did not stir, but he remained exactly where he had fallen, with his left arm bent out at an awkward angle and his mouth gaping.**

James pressed his lips lightly together. He refused to cry though his insides were slowly tearing apart, screaming in agony and grief and terror. This was his son that had just been killed. This was his son that was under the pretense of death. He couldn't bear to remember earlier, when he had been carried out of the forest…his unmoving body…

**He had expected to hear cheer of triumph and jubilation at his death, but instead hurried footsteps, whispers, and solicitous murmurs filled the air.**

"It must be Voldemort," said Luna softly, her fingers pressed to her lips. Some sent her strange looks, but her words weren't all that crazy. In fact, it was only logic. What else would stop everyone from celebrating in a death they had waited sixteen years for?

"It was," said Hagrid, and everyone looked at him, fearful.

**"My Lord... my Lord..."**

**It was Bellatrix's voice, and she spoke as if to a lover. **

Sirius and Tonks both blanched.

"Harry," said Ron, his voice slightly shaky and breathless. He wasn't quite sure what he was trying to get at. All he knew was that his insides were squirming with terror. "You can't let them know you're…"

"Alive," said Harry, and swallowed. "I know."

Hermione looked between the two, feeling suddenly sick. What would've happened had they known Harry was really alive? They would have killed him again – and this time, nothing would've saved him.

"That's why you let them carry you out, isn't it?" asked Cho, looking pale. "You couldn't show them that you were alive…"

Harry nodded. The only person who knew that was Ginny – he had a lot of explaining to do to her. One of which included why he made everyone – made her – believe he was dead.

**Harry did not dare open his eyes, but allowed his other senses to explore his predicament. He knew that his wand was still stowed beneath his robes because he could feel it pressed between his chest and the ground. **

"Of course," said Hermione, her voice soft and emotional. "Because you didn't pull it out when he…when you…"

Harry caught her eye and grimaced. She sniffed slightly and looked away.

**A slight cushioning effect in the area of his stomach told him that the Invisibility Cloak was also there, stuffed out of sight.**

"Brilliant," said Remus, who surprisingly, after seven years with James, had never been more relieved for its presence.

**"My Lord..."**

Molly gritted her teeth. She would never regret what she did to that women.

**"That will do," said Voldemort's voice.**

Everyone stiffened and and sat up straighter. Now was the true time of danger. Voldemort had spent years waiting for this moment – sixteen, to be exact - and no one wanted to know how it was celebrated.

**More footsteps. Several people were backing away from the same spot. Desperate to see what was happening and why, Harry opened his eyes by a milimeter.**

"Harry," his mother, Mrs. Weasley, and Minerva all scolded at once.

**Voldemort seemed to be getting to his feet. Various Death Eaters were hurrying away from him, returning to the crowd lining the clearing. Bellatrix alone remained behind, kneeling beside Voldemort.**

Mad Eye shifted in his seat. It was a tough situation. One of hundreds. He knew even the great Harry Potter would not be able to get out of this one alive if Voldemort got the slightest hunch that is heart was beating.

And yet, Voldemort didn't seem likely to just pass Harry off as dead without double checking. After all, he was the Boy-Who-Lived.

**Harry closed his eyes again and considered what he had seen. The Death Eaters have been huddled around Voldemort, who seem to have fallen to the ground. Something had happened when he had hit Harry with the Killing Curse. Had Voldemort too collapsed? It seemed like it. And both of them had briefly fallen unconcious and both of them had now returned. . .**

"He was that…thing…wasn't he?" asked Tonks, shuddering but not surprised. If there was one thing she learned after being in the Order with Dumbledore for years, it was death was the next greatest adventure. But it seems, even he eats his words, because surely, Voldemort would not be enjoying his stay anytime soon…

**"My Lord, let me -"**

**"I do not require assitance," said Voldemort coldly, and though he could not see it, Harry pictured Bellatrix withdrawing a helpful hand. "The boy . . . Is he dead?"**

"Oh no…" muttered Draco, looking worried. He did not notice the way his mother stiffened beside him. Lucius had not been present at the time, and therefore, did not know either…how did Potter get out of this one?

**There was a complete silence in the clearing. Nobody approached Harry, but he felt their concentraded gaze; it seemed to press him harder into the ground, and he was terrified a finger or an eyelid might twitch.**

Ginny bit her lip, shaking slightly. The fact that he was alone in the Forbidden Forest was the scariest part. At about this time, in the Great Hall, she had begun to worry where Harry had ventured to, and feared the worst. She could never imagine that such a thing was happening. He was dead again if Voldemort found out…and no amount of magic would bring him back…

**"You," said Voldemort, and there was a bang and a small shrick of pain. "Examine him. Tell me whether he is dead."**

"No…" whispered Lily, looking at her son. True panic seemed to set in throughout the Hall as Dumbledore, curious and worried himself, continued.

**Harry did not know who had been sent to verify. He could only lie there, with his heart thumping traitorously, and wait to be examined, but at the same time nothing, small comfort through it was, that Voldemort was wary of approaching him, that Voldemort suspected that all had not gone to plan . . . .**

Hermione took in a shaky breath as she looked at Harry. "But it doesn't matter," she said. "Not once they find out you're actually…you're really…"

"Hermione," said Harry. "It all works out," he told her, told everyone, because they seemed to have momentarily forgotten how very much alive he was right now. His gazes flickers to Malfoy's mother and back to his hands.

**Hands, softer than he had been expecting, touched Harry's face, and felt his heart. He could hear the woman's fast breathing, her pounding of life against his ribs.**

Lily gripped James's hand tightly.

**"Is Draco alive? Is he in the castle?"**

Everyone looked to Draco, eyes furrowed. Yet Draco only had eyes for his mother. "Mum?" he asked. Everyone watched as she nodded.

"It's you," gasped Sirius, shocked. He felt relief and wasn't sure why. "You better not – I swear to merlin -,"

"Padfoot," said Remus, gripping his shoulder. The animangus didn't relax – he never did when it came to his family.

**The whisper was barely audible, her lips were an inch from his scar, her head bent so low that her long hair shielded his face from the onlookers.**

**N**arcissa didn't show any signs of being called upon. She simply looked straight ahead at Albus, her face impassive and unreadable. She could feel her nephew's eyes on her own, along with her sons and husbands. She didn't want to see their reactions either, once they learned she lied to her Master.

**"Yes," he breathed back.**

**He felt the hand on his chest contract: her nails pierced him. Then it was withdrawn. She had sat up.**

Everyone stiffened, waiting…

**"He is dead!" Narcissa Malfoy called to the watchers.**

There was a stunned silence. It was unknown – irrational – to think of any follower to lie to one's master. Especially Lord Voldemort. Yet not only did she lie, but she risked her life and many more in the process.

"That's how you pulled it off then," said Neville, shocked.

**And now they shouted, now they yelled in triumph and stamped their feet, and through his eyelids, Harry saw bursts of red and silver light shoot into the air in celebration.**

James let out a low growl, something that tended to happen now and then when he was angry due to his animgus form. He wasn't the only one angry however. Everyone was. To think that someone so evil could actually celebrate the death of someone so innocent was…was…

"Why didn't Voldemort read her mind?" asked a first year, but it was Severus that answered.

"Because he trusted her," he said, and to everyone's surprise, smiled slightly.

**Still feigning death on the ground, he understood. Narcissa knew that the only way she would be permitted to enter Hogwarts, and find her son, was as part of the conquering army. She no longer cared whether Voldemort won.**

"In fact," said Remus. "I can only imagine they want him dead at this point. Not even they enjoy what he's been up to, they are frightened."

Kingsley nodded in agreement.

**"You see?" screeched Voldemort over the tumult. "Harry Potter is dead by my hand, and no man alive can threaten me now! Watch! Crucio!"**

"_No!"_ was the instant response, none first or louder than Lily and James. This, no one had been expecting. Everyone seemed to go into a frenzy all at once, imagining Harry Potter – defenseless and weak against the cructiatus curse. He can't stop himself from crying out in this one…

**Harry had been expecting it, knew his body would not be allowed to remain unsullied upon the forest floor; it must be subjected to humiliation to prove Voldemort's victory. He was lifted into the air, and it took all his determination to remain limp, yet the pain he expected did not come. **

Lily pushed some hair out of her face, terrified. "What?" she breathed, "Why…why not?"

It did nothing to calm her nerves, nor anyone else's. They hadn't quite registered the impossible fact that no pain was being put on harry while he was under the curse. It was simply impossible.

**He was thrown once, twice, three times into the air. His glasses flew off and he felt his wand slide a little beneath his robes, but he kept himself floppy and lifeless, and when he fell no ground for the last time, the clearing echoed with jeers and shrieks of laughter.**

Ginny gritted her teeth. She had seen that. She had been right outside, hanging on the boundaries of the forest. She had heard the screams and shrieks and thought that battle was still happening far off. Yet she had been tending to sick girl, whom was nearly dead, and couldn't quite go into the forest. She simply stood up and watched, confused, once she registered the cries as laughter and the noises as fireworks.

Now, it all made sense. And she wished it didn't.

"Jokes on you, Voldemort," she said through her teeth.

**"Now," said Voldemort, "we go to the castle, and show them what has become of their hero. Who shall drag the body? **

"No," snarled a few people from all houses instantly.

"It's okay," reminded Luna. "Hagrid carries him, remember?"

Hagrid swallowed thickly. "I remember."

**No - Wait - "**

**There was a fresh outbreak of laughter, and after a few moments Harry felt the ground trembling beneath him.**

**"You carry him," Voldemort said. "He will be nice and visible in your arms, will he not? Pick up your little friend, Hagrid. And the glasses - put on the glasses - he must be recognizable - "**

"Oh poor Hagrid," cried Minerva. If there was one boy who loved that boy more than anything it was Hagrid. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like.

"I'm sorry Hagrid," said Harry, and Hagrid gave him a weak smile.

"You did what you had to do," he said gruffly, "You have nothing to be sorry for boy."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh but he can't help it," she said. "He's Harry, he has to apologize for saving the Wizarding World."

Ron laughed lightly at Hermione's attempt at humor. It seemed to have worked. Lily and James smiled as did many others. It was only true though.

**Someone slammed Harry's glasses back onto his face with deliberate force, but the enormous hands that lifted him into the air were exceedingly gentle. Harry could feel Hagrid's arms trembling with the force of his heaving sobs; great tears splashed down upon him as Hagrid cradled Harry in his arms, and Harry did not dare, by movement or word, to intimate to Hagrid that all was not, yet, lost.**

"Too dangerous," said Sprout, nodding.

**"Move," said Voldemort, and Hagrid stumbled forward, forcing his way through the close-growing trees, back through the forest.**

**Branches caught at Harry's hair and robes, but he lay quiescent, his mouth lolling open, his eyes shut, and in the darkness, while the Death Eaters crowded all around them, and while Hagrid sobbed blindly, nobody looked to see whether a pulse beat in the exposed neck of Harry Potter. . . .**

"No one thought it'd be possible," breathed Seamus, looking at Harry. "Everyone there saw Voldemort fire that curse. They saw it hit you. They saw you go down," he looked back at Dumbledore. "Who in their right mind would think you were alive?"

**The two giants crashed along behind the Death Eaters; Harry could hear trees creaking and falling as they passed; they made so much din that birds toes shrieking into the sky, and even the jeers of the Death Eaters were drowned. The victorious procession marched on toward the open ground, and after a while Harry could tell, by the lightening of the darkness through his closed eyelids, that the trees were beginning to thin.**

Lily wiped her eyes fiercely. She didn't want to relive this moment again. She didn't want to hear his friends as they cried out to his body. And yet she was curious as to what Harry must have felt, must have been thinking, while he destroyed Voldemort.

**"BANE!"**

"The centuars are there then," Ron said, he seemed to have lost his voice this chapter. It wasn't easy for him to read about his best mates death.

"Not like they would do anything," Sirius angrily. "They don't get involved in wizards wars."

Dean looked at Sirius and nodded. "And I bet that's why Hagrids talking to them."

**Hagrid's unexpected bellow nearly forced Harry's eyes open. "Happy now, are yeh, that yeh didn't fight, yeh cowardly bunch o' nags? Are yeh happy Harry Potter's - d-dead . . . ?"**

The Dursley exchanged looks, feeling their stomachs tighten. They'd never liked the boy but they'd never wanted him dead. They never wished anything like this to happen to him. And although they wouldn't cry and scream over his corpse like Hagrid and many others did, they still did care. A part of them was shocked that they lived with such a boy for over sixteen years and not once gave thought to his other life. Not once understand the extent of bravery and hardship he had and went through.

**Hagrid could not continue, but broke down in fresh tears. Harry wondered how many centaurs were watching their procession pass; he dared not open his eyes to look. Some of the Death Eaters called insults at the centaurs as they left them behind. A little later, Harry sensed, by a freshening of the air, that they had reached the edge of the forest.**

"Oh no," breathed Tonks, shaking. She hadn't been around for this part, nor had Remus. All those that had died during the battle – Colin, Fred, and may more, didn't know what was to come. And they didn't want to.

**"Stop."**

**Harry thought that Hagrid must have been forced to obey Voldemort's command, because he lurched a little. And now a chill settled over them where they stood, and Harry heard the rasping breath of the dementors that patrolled the other trees. They would not affect him now.**

"Why not?" breathed a hufflepuff, but many understood why.

**The fact of his own survival burned inside him, a talisman against them, as though his father's stag kept guardian in his heart.**

Sirius felt his throat clog up at his nephew's words, as did James. He smiled at his son, proud and grievant and sad beyond words. Lily wiped the tears quickly from her eyes.

**Someone passed close by Harry, and he knew that it was Voldemort himself because he spoke a moment later, his voice magically magnified so that it swelled through the ground, crashing upon Harry's eardrums.**

"**Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone.**

"Liar," spat Fred, his face contorted in anger. Everyone looked at Harry with a new sense of understanding. Of course, they had already known he hadn't _run away _from battle. Yet now it made more sense as to why he let Voldemort claim he did. Harry had done it for them. If successful, then Harry had saved everyone from Voldemorts power.

"No one believed him anyway," said Lee Jordan, looking around at Fred. "Not even the fact that…that…"

He fell silent. James looked at his son, an emotion rising him – it was stronger than pride. It was more.

"I believed it," whispered Ginny honestly. "Of course…there's always a bit of denial in something like that but…but I know Harry," she looked at him, smiling sadly. "Noble git."

**"The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. **

Remus looked sick. He hadn't been alive during this part of the battle. "Does he honestly think – think we'd stop fighting?" he asked. "We all knew Harry, one way or another – we all loved him -," he shook his head, and Harry smiled softly in appreciation.

**Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."**

"I'd rather be dead," said Seamus honestly. He remembered the moment vividly. He remembered looking around at all his friend's faces – masked in blood, and dirt, and grief. He remembered feeling so small, so inferior, so stupid, for thinking they could have possibly come up on top in a battle like that. Yet he remembered feeling, above all, determined. He scraped at any lingering hope that all would be well. And joining Voldemort's new world was not top of the list.

**There was silence in the grounds and from the castle. Voldemort was so close to him that Harry did not dare open his eyes again.**

Lily shivered. She remembered the way the castle had been so silent, yet so loud. Kingsley's voice had broken the terrified silence, as he spoke to Lee Jordan. "Open the gates, we'll meet and fight them head on. Besides…I'd like to see if what the Dark Lord said is true."

And Lee, peeking through a hole in the door, replied. "There's many of them…and that's…that's Hagrid. He's holding…something…" before falling silent. He pushed the doors open, grabbing his wand, and George had joined up behind him.

Lily wasn't the only one remembering this. The whole Hall was. And Sirius realized, with a pang in his chest, that'd he had experienced that same feeling sixteen years previous, when he'd seen the Dark Mark floating up ahead the Potter's house.

It's a feeling you cant quite describe. Not unless you've been through it. And everyone in that hall had.

**"Come," said Voldemort, and Harry heard him move ahead, and Hagrid was forced to follow. Now Harry opened his eyes a fraction, and saw Voldemort striding in front them, wearing the great snake Nagini around his shoulders, now free of her enchanted cage. **

Neville's face grew hard.

**But Harry had no possibility of extracting the wand concealed under his robes without being noticed by the Death Eaters, who marched on the either side of them through the slowly lightening darkness...**

"Just leave that to me," hissed Neville; it was good to know that all that anger and hatred and terror that had been building up against this war came to use. He had done something, something important, something that had been a key to ending the war.

**"Harry," sobbed Hagrid. "Oh, Harry . . . Harry . . ."**

Harry looked at the ground. The single sentence had seemed to reflect just how much pain Hagrid, and the others, had been in. Yet it also showed the significance of what Harry had done. He had died. To save them.

**Harry shut his eyes tight again. He knew that they were approaching the castle and strained his ears to distinguish, above the gleeful voices of the Death Eaters and their tramping footsteps, signs of life from those within.**

**"Stop."**

Hermione took a deep breath, holding Ron's hand tightly. She didn't want to read about this a second time through. It was – and will be – one of the worst moments of her life.

**The Death Eaters came to a halt; Harry heard them spreading out in a line facing the open front doors of the school. He could see, even though his closed lids, the reddish glow that meant light streamed upon him from the entrance hall. He waited.**

James swallowed. He remembered that as well. He remembered the light shining on his son, as if he glowed with false life. He remembers the way Voldemort laughed, pointing at the motionless body of his son –

Lily could see James growing upset. She wrapped her fingers around his own, squeezing them.

**Any moment, the people for whom he had tried to die would see him, lying apparently dead, in Hagrid's arms.**

**"NO!"**

**The scream was the more terrible because he had never expected or dreamed that Professor McGonagall could make such a sound. **

McGonagall looked at the ground. The pain, the sadness, the anger – it had all been there. She loved each and every one of her students, particularly Harry, not because he was "the boy who lived", or bore a famous scar, or did things time to time. But she had never met anyone as tragic as him, who held such a big heart. Sweet and kind and innocent, he was, and she wouldn't have though it possible. She remembers above all, however, the guilt. What had she been thinking? What had they all been thinking, letting a boy just seventeen years of age, fight such a battle? Fight the darkest wizard of age, that no one was able to defeat?

**He heard another women laughing nearby, and knew that Bellatrix gloried in McGonagall's despair. **

Neville bared his teeth, making an angry noise. Everyone shifted angrily, most of all Remus. That women had killed his best mate right before his eyes.

"Will someone do something with that women?" he hissed angrily, the whole Hall stirring.

George smirked knowingly. "Oh, don't worry about it."

Fred shot him a strange, confused look.

**He squinted again for a single second and saw the open doorway filling with people, as the survivors of the battle came out onto the front steps to face their vanquishers and see the truth of Harry's death for themselves. He saw Voldemort standing a little in front of him, stroking Nagini's head with a single white finger. He closed his eyes again.**

Harry sat straighter in his seat. The descriptions were better than what he had actually got to see from his fellow students and teachers.

"Charlie had just gotten back," explained Slughorn softly, as everyone prepared for what was to come. "I had sent him to gather people from across the country to come and fight. And they did. By the thousands."  
**"No!"**

**"No!"**

**"Harry! HARRY!"**

Harry looked at his hands, feeling guilty.

**Ron's, Hermione's, and Ginny's voices were worse than McGonagall's; Harry wanted nothing more than to call back, yet he made himself lie silent, **

Hermione shook her head, along with the others, noting Harry's guilty face. "You couldn't have."

Ron nodded in agreement. "Or else they really would've killed you."

Harry simply swallowed. Ginny looked up at him, eyes shining, and took his hand in her own. She squeezed it tightly.

**and their cries acted like a trigger; the crowd of survivors took up the cause, screaming and yelling abuse at the Death Eathers, until -**

James pulse was quickening. Through the terror and the fear and the anger and sadness he felt that pride again. That his son, Harry, would rile up a whole army of people to fight in a war against the darkest forces in the world.

"We fly the flags of bravery," hissed Arthur, thinking along the lines of James. Except it was Harry, the boy who lived and loved, that set them on fire. That brought all their true courage out. That lead this entire war.

**"SILENCE!" cried Voldemort, and there was a bang and a flash of bright light, and silence was forced upn them all. "It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"**

Remus's breathing grew heavy in disgust and anger.

**Harry felt himself lowered onto the grass.**

**"You see?" said Voldemort, and Harry felt him striding backward and forward right beside the place where he lay. "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"**

Petunia and the rest of the Dursley's were silent, mouths upon in shock and awe. This was…their Harry? Their Harry was the one leading this revolution, that sacrificed himself, that died and came back to defeat the greatest wizard of our time?

**"He beat you!" yelled Ron,**

No one had expected anything less from him. Ron was a Gryffindor, loyal and brave till the end. Had it not been for the enchantments, Ron would have already barricaded his way to Harry's body, followed by many others. Molly looked at her son, blinking tears. She'd been scared, but proud. How was it her youngest son had been through the most?

**and the charm broke, and the defenders of Hogwarts were shouting and screaming again until a second, more powerful bang extinguished their voices once more.**

**"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," said Voldemort, and there was a relish in his voice for the lie. "killed while trying to save himself - "**

**But Voldemort broke off: Harry heard a scuffle and a shout, then another bang, a flash of light, and grunt of pain; he opened his eyes an infinitesimal amount. Someone had broken free of the crowd and charged at Voldemort:**

"What?" asked those who had not be around for the part of the battle. Who had been student enough, or brave enough, to do such a thing?

**Harry saw the figure hit the ground. Disarmed, Voldemort throwing the challenger's wand aside and laughing.**

**"And who is this?" he said in his soft snake's hiss. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"**

Neville gritted his teeth angrily.

**Bellatrix gave a delighted laugh.**

**"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord! The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?"**

"I couldn't just let them stand there and – and say all those things about Harry," he said quickly at the startled looks. "He had…the boy had died for us! I wasn't going to let them say anywise!" He looked at Harry, remembering how little and defenseless he had looked on the ground by Voldemort's feet. That was what had struck him. Harry was always brave, always strong. His death had seemed to finally hit Neville at that point.

**"Ah, yes, I remember," said Voldemort, looking down at Neville, who was struggling back to his feet, unarmed and unproctected, standing in the no-man's-land between the survivors and the Death Eaters. "But you are a pureblood, aren't you, my brave boy? Voldemort asked Neville, who stood facing him, his empty hands curled in fists.**

**"So what if I am?" said Neville loudly.**

"And that," said Sirius slowly, "Is what I've been trying to say my whole life."

Sirius felt a new respect for Neville in that moment. Growing up had been all about his blood status. Never once was he "Sirius" but "Sirius_ Black_ – the pureblood."

**"You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom."**

"Cue Dean's laughter," said Seamus with a small smile. Dean had actually laughed when Voldemort said this. Not too loudly, but enough for the people around them to hear.

Dean shrugged. "I just knew Voldemort for once had chosen a battle that was already lost," he said wisely. Neville would never -

**"I'll join you when hell freezes over," said Neville. "Dumbledore's Army!" he shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort's Silencing Charms seemed unable to hold.**

"Dumbledore's Army," repeated Dumbledore, with a small smile and chuckle. Fierce pride rushed through him. He had not doubt the unity of his school or its students one minute, although he warned them quite often of it.

**"Very well," said Voldemort, and Harry heard more danger in the silkiness of his voice than in the most powerful curse. "If that is your choice, Longbottom, we revert to the original plan. On your head," he said quietly, "be it."**

Hermione's parents both went rigid. They had heard of this Neville boy plenty of times from Hermione. She had spoke quite highly of him, in fact. Terror coursed through their veins for their daughter's friend. Had he been killed? And returned?

**Still watching through his lashes, Harry saw Voldemort wave his wand. Seconds later, out of one of the castle's shattered windows, something that looked like a misshapen bird flew through the half light and landed in Voldemort's hand. He shook the mildewed object by its pointed end and it dangled, emtpy and ragged: the Sorting Hat.**

"The Hat?" asked Remus, with confusion. So scared was he for his former pupil that he failed to remember the good in Voldemort's mistake. He had pushed Neville plenty of times as student to believe in himself, to be brave, and was too absorbed in terror and awe to see what would become of him.

**"There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School," said Voldemort. "There will be no more Houses. The emblem, sheild and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slythering, will suffice everyone. Won't they, Neville Longbottom?"**

Draco had thought this would please him, was sure of it. Yet all he could remember was looking up at his mother, and then his father, and seeing the same sick, terror reflected in them.

**He pointed his wand at Neville, who grew rigid and still, then forced the hat onto Neville's head, so that it slipped down below his eyes. There were movements from the watching crowd in front of the castle, and as one, the Death Eaters raised their wands, holding the fighters of Hogwarts at bay.**

Neville's parents grew rigid. Time had seemed to stand still in that moment of battle. Ginny remembered the way everyone had made a move forward, watching their leader of the DA face Voldemort on his own. Something wicked was going to happen to him, they knew, and wanted to help, but the Death Eaters were overpowering.

**"Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," said Voldemort,**

"No.." moaned Mrs. Granger, tears falling from her face. Ginny looked at her in surprise. That had been her initial reaction to Neville as well. She remembered thinking her fellow Gryffindor friend – the one who had always forgotten on the password, the one who had asked her to the Yule Ball, the one who had danced so terribly and blistered her feet – was going to meet his end.

**and with a flick of his wand, he caused the Sorting Hat to burst into flames.**

**Screams split the dawn, and Neville was a flame, rooted to the spot, unable to move, and Harry could not bear it: He must act – **

James's eyes went wide. "No, Harry - you cant give yourself away –"

**And then many things happened at the same moment.**

**They heard uproar from the distant boundary of the school as what sounded like hundreds of people came swarming over the out-of-sight walls and pelted toward the castle, uttering lowd war cries. At the same time, Grawp came lumbering around the side of the castle and yelled, "HAGGER!" His cry was answered by roars from Voldemort's giants: They ran at Grawp like bull elephants making the earth quake. Then came hooves and the twangs of bows, and arrows were suddenly falling amongst the Death Eaters, who broke ranks, shouting their surprise. **

"Yes," whispered Dudley in relief.

**Harry pulled the Invisibilty Cloak from inside his robes, swung it over himself, and sprang to his feet, as Neville moved too.**

**In one swift, fluid motin, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse upon him; the flaming ha fell off him and he drew from its depths something silver, with a glittering, rubied handle –**

"Neville!" said Remus in shock, eyes going wide, yet a smile played at his lips. He looked at his former student, pride swimming in him. "You destroyed – you did it-!"

"Honestly," said Draco with a soft smile. "He's a great wizard and all….but who summons the Sorting Hat towards a Gryffindor in distress?"

**The slash of the silver blade could not be heard over the roar of the oncoming crowd or the sounds of the clashing giants or of the stampending centaurs, and yet, it seemd to draw every eye. With a single stroke Neville sliced off the great snake's head, **

"Brilliant," said Hermione's father through her tears, and her father gave a few claps. Luna smiled at Neville, taking his hand, who shrugged at all the gratitude. "I just did it because Harry told me to," he said.

**which spun high into the air, gleaming in the light flooding from the entrance hall, and Voldemort's mouth was open in a scream of fury that nobody could hear, and the snake's body thudded to the ground at his feet-**

Remus's smile faded. Voldemort would be beyond angry. "Neville," he whispered quickly. "Run."

Neville's eyes furrowed in confusion. He didn't remember being in any danger…

**Hidden beneath the Invisibilty Cloak, Harry cast a Shield Charm between Neville and Voldemort before the latter could raise his wand**

Neville smiled at Harry. That made more sense**.**

**- stamps of the battling giants, Hagrid's yell came loudest of all.**

**"HARRY!" Hagrid shouted. "HARRY - WHERE'S HARRY?"**

"Oh bloody hell, Hagrid," he said. "Way to give my son away."

Ron looked thoughtfully. He remembered being so confused after Hagrid's shout. Dead boys didn't just get up and walk away -

**Chaos reigned. The charging centaurs were scattering the Death Eaters, everyone was feeling the giants' stamping feet, and nearer and nearar thundered the reinforcements that had come from who knew where; Harry saw great winget creatues soaring the heads of Voldemort's giants, thestrals and Buckbeak the hippogriff scratching at their eyes while Grawp punched and pummeled them and now the wizards, defenders of Hogwarts and Death Eaters alike were being forced back into the castle. Harry was shooting jinxes and curses at any Death Eater he could see, and they crumpled, not knowing what or who had hit them, and their bodies were trampled by the retreating crowd. **

Fred's eyes, along with Remus and those who had not been around, were wide. "Now this," he said slowly, heart pounding in fear. "Is a battle."

"We thought Harry was dead," said Ginny in answer, as if this were the most obvious reasoning. "No one kills the Boy who Lives and gets away with it."

**Still hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, Harry was buffered into the entrance hall: He was searching for Voldemort and saw him across the room, **

"Finish him," said Snape firmly, teeth bared in anger as he listened to the fight that had taken place while he was gone. A new respect had come over him for Neville. Not only had he stood up to the greatest wizard of time, but he had killed Naginini, whom had killed Snape.

**firing spells from his wand as he backed into the Great Hall, still screaming instructions to his followers as he sent curses flying left and right; Harry cast more Shield Charms, and Voldemort's would-be victims. Seamus Finnigan and Hannah Abbott, datted past him into the Great Hall, where they joined the fight already flourishing inside it.**

"You saved my life," said Seamus in surprise, as Hannah smiled at Harry. They had no idea. "Well. You save it again, I mean."

**And now there were more, even more people storming up the front steps, and Harry saw Charlie Weasly overtaking Horace Slughorn, who was still wearing his emeral pijamas.**

"Charlies back," grinned George.

Sprout saw this and rolled her eyes. "Weasleys," she muttered.

**They seemed to have returned at the head of what looked like the families and friends of every Hogwarts student who had remained to fight along with the shopkeeps and homeowners of Hogsmeade. The centaurs Bane, Ronan and Magorian burst into the hall with a great clatter of hooves, **

"I guess the centaurs decided to fight after all," Tonks said in a awed voice; it seem like everything was happening at once and it was incredible.

"Of course they would," said Trewlaney, "They were friends with Harry as well."

**as behind Harry the door that led to the kitchens was blasted off its hinges.**

**The house-elves of Hogwarts swarmed into the entrance hall, screaming and waving carving knives and cleaver, and at their head, the locker of Regulus Black bouncing on his chest, was Kreacher, his bullfrog's voice audible even above this din: "Fight! Fight! Fight for my Master, defender of house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus! Fight!"**

Regulus sat up straighter in his seat, mouth opening in awe. Dobby gave Kreacher a high five, smiling.

"I think I have actually started to like him," Sirius smiled.

**They were hacking and stabbing at the ankles and shim of Death Eaters their tiny faces alive with malice, and everywhere Harry looked Death Eaters were folding under sheer weight of numbers, overcome by spells, dragging arrows from wounds, stabbed in the leg by elves, or else simply attempting to escape, but swallowed by the oncoming horde.**

**But it was not over yet: Harry sped between duelers, past struggling prosoners, and into the Great Hall.**

**Voldemort was in the center of the battle, and he was striking and smiting al within reach. Harry could not get a clear shot, but fought his way nearer, still invisible, and the Great Hall became more and more crowded as everyone who could walk forced their way inside.**

"This was where the real battle was," said Ginny softly, making Hermione's parents shrink in terror. Their daughter was in there. Of course she was.

**Harry saw Yaxley slammed to the floor by George and Lee Jordan, **

Fred smirked at his mates. "Yaxely got what he deserved, I see."

**saw Dolohov fall with a scream at Flitwick's hands, saw Walden Macnair thrown across the room by Hagrid, hit the stone wall opposite, and slide unconscious to the ground. **

"For buckbeak, you worthless piece of-,"

"Sirius," warned Hagrid, though he was fighting a smile of agreement.

**He saw Ron and Neville bringing down Fenrir Greyback. **

"Good," hissed Fleur.

**Aberforth Stunning Rookwood, Arthur and Percy flooting Thicknesse, **

"Perce," smiled Fred.

**and Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy running through the crowd, not even attempting to fight, screaming for their son.**

"We didn't have wands," said Narcissa. "We had given our only one to Draco."

"Like any mother would," smiled Lily, who couldn't really be angry at Narcissa. She was a mother after all, and she understood. Plus she was the reason her son had made it out of those woods alive.

**Voldemort was now dueling McGonagall, Slughorn, Kingsley all at once, and there was a cold hatred in his face as they wove and ducked around him, unable to finish him -**

"Leave that to Harry."

**Bellatrix was still fighing too, fifty yards away from Voldemort, and like her master she dueled three at once: Hermione, Ginny and Luna, **

The three girls stiffened. Hermione's parents looked close to tears in panic.

**all battling their hardest, but Bellatrix was equal to them, and Harry's attention was diverted as a Killing Curse shot so close to Ginny that she missed death by an inch -**

Many gasped, shocked and terrified.

Neville leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms. "Oh this will go over well with Harry," he said sarcastically, and everyone thought the same thing.

**He changed courses, running at Bellatrix rather than Voldemort, **

"Harry," said Ginny, clearly indifferent. He had a mission, and it didn't involve protecting her! The others were torn between terror and amusement.

**but before he had gone a few steps he was knocked sideways.**

**"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"**

"Mum?" said Fred, shocked.

**Mrs. Weasley -**

"Mum..." he said again, confused. He looked at George. "Our mum?"

George nodded, smirking.

Fred shook his head. "Our, our mother?"

Molly shook her head at her sons antics.

**threw off her cloak as she ran, freeing her arms, Bellatrix spun on the spot, roaring with laughter at the sight of the new challenger.**

"Go mum," said Fred finally, nodding his head in shock but pride.

**"OUT OF MY WAY!" shouted Mrs. Weasley to the three girls, and with a simple swipe of her wand she began to duel. Harry watched with terror and elation as Molly Weasley's wand slashed and twisted, and Bellatrix Lestrange's smile faltered and became a snarl. **

"You're a threat," said McGongall, with a smile. No one would have guessed that the mother of seven would have had it in her, most of all Bellatrix.

**Jets of light flew from both wands, the floor around the withces' feet became bot and cracked; both woman were fighting to kill.**

**"No!" Mrs. Weasley cried as a few students ran forward, trying to come to her aid. "Get back! Get back! She is mine!"**

Fred's shock was growing. This was his mother. Fighting Bellatrix Lestrange**. **

**Hundreds of people now lined the walls, watching the two fights, Voldemort and his three opponents, Bellatrix and Molly, and Harry stood, invisible, torn between both, wanting to attack and yet to protect, unable to be sure that he would not hit the innocent.**

"For once in your bloody life, attack!" yelled Sirius forcefully. Others were too absorbed in the book to notice, but Sirius was right. "You've spent the last seven years protecting and protecting. Its over now. Attack and it's over."

**"What will happen to your children when I've killed you?" taunted Bellatrix, as mad as her master, capering as Molly's curses danced around her. "When Mummy's gone the same way as Freddie?"**

Fred's eyes went wide, a noise of angering escaping his lips. The other Weasley's shifted as well. "Tear her to pieces," hissed Frank, shaking dangerously at her words.

**"You - will - never - touch - our - children - again!" screamed Mrs. Weasley.**

**Bellatrix laughed the same exhilarated laugh her cousin Sirius had given as he toppled backward through the veil, **

Remus's eyes went wide slowly, along with those who had been there during that battle. "She's a goner," said Tonks simply. Finally.

**and suddenly Harry knew what was going to happen before it did.**

"How did – what -?" began James, confused. He was clearly missing something very important about his mates death.

**Molly's curse soared beneath Bellatrix's constreched arm and hit her squarely in the chest, directly over her heart.**

**Bellatrix's glounting smile froze, her eyes seemd to bulge: For the tiniest space of time she knew what had happened, and then she toppled, and the watching crowd roared, and Voldemord screamed.**

"Get out there," said Fred slowly, terrified. Voldemort was angry.

**Harry felt as though he turned into slow motin: he saw McGonagall, Kingsley and Slughorn blasted backward, **

The three flinched. They remembered the power of that curse – the anger that had been held in it, as they hit the wall feet away from them.

**flailing and writhing through the air, as Voldemort's fury at the fall of his last, best leutenant exploded with the force of a bomb, Voldemort raised his wand and directed it at Molly Weasley.**

Everyone froze in terror. Time had seemed to stop at that moment in battle. Every head had turned, every battle had stopped, all watching Voldemort raise his wand at Molly. Everyone, that is, beside Ron and Ginny and George and the Weasley's, who had dashed forward in an attempt to reach their defenseless mother –

"Time to shine, Harry," whispered James, knowing immediately he was the only person who could avert Voldemorts attention at a time like this.

**"Protego!" roared Harry, and the Shield Charm expanded in the middle of the Hall, and Voldemort stared around for the source as Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak at last.**

"It's over," said Ginny, sinking into her chair slightly. Harry was there – the battle was over.

**The yell of shock, the cheers, the screams on every side of :"Harry!" "HE'S ALIVE!" were stifled at once. The crowd was afraid, and silence fell abruptly and completely as Voldemort and Harry looked at each other, and began, at the same moment, to circle each other.**

**"I don't want anyone else to help," Harry said loudly, and in the total silence his voice carried like a trumpet call. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."**

"Those words hadn't shocked me one bit," said Seamus.

**Voldemort hissed.**

**"Potter doesn't mean that," he said, his red eyes wide. "This isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"**

"Don't listen to him, boy," called Mad – Eye. "He's messing with you. He's scared."

**"Nobody," said Harry simply. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good. . . ."**

No one spoke.

**"One of us?" jeered Voldemort, and his whole body was taut and his red eyes stared, a snake that was about to strike. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"**

Flitwick shook his head. None of those were accidents**.**

**"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me?" asked Harry. **

James pulled Lily to himself.

**They were still moving sideways, both of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other, and for Harry no face existed but Voldemort's. "Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard? **

Cedric looked at Harry.

**Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"**

**"Accidents!" screamed Voldemort, **

"He must have been terrified of you," Lily said. "No matter what he did, you wouldn't die."

**but still he did not strike, and the watching crowd was frozen as if Petrified, and of the hundreds in the Hall, nobody seemed to breathe but they two. "Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and sniveled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"**

James winced slightly. "That isn't true, Harry, and you know it," he said. He thought of how much he had wanted to go stand beside his son at that moment. Protect him from the harsh words this man was throwing at him. But he had learned very quickly that Harry wasn't ordinary. It would take more than mean words to throw him off.

**"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other's eyes, green into red. "You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people - "**

Many heads turned to look at Harry, smiling. Some had tears in their eyes, including Hermione, who's head was resting on Ron's shoulder.

**"But you did not!"**

**" - I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you.**

"You have your mother's heart," said Snape at last, smiling softly.

**Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"**

Dumbledore smiled at Harry's choice of name.

**"You dare -"**

**"Yes, I dare," said Harry. "I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?"**

Many had been speechless at this point. It was shocking, surreal, to hear someone talk to the dark Lord like this, to call him by his real name -

**Voldemort did not speak, but powled in a circle, and Harry knew that he kept him temporarily mesmerized at bay, held back by the faintest possibility that Harry might indeed know a final secret. . . .**

**"Is it love again?" said Voldemort, his snake's face jeering. "Dumbledore favorite solution, love, which he claimed conqered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like and old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Modblood mother like a cockroack,**

The marauders all growled at that, and James stiffened. "Just kill him, son," he said in anger.

**Potter - and nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?"**

**"Just one thing," said Harry, and still they circled each other, wrapped in each other, held apart by nothing but the last secret.**

**"If it is not love that will save you this time," said Voldemort, "you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?"**

**"I believe both," said Harry, **

"What?" asked many, who had not been able to put two and two together."What do you have?"

**and he saw shock flit across the snakelike face, though it was instantly dispelled; Voldemort began to laugh, and the sound was more frightening than his screams; humorles and insane, it echoed around the silent Hall.**

**"You think you know more magic than I do?" he said. "Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?"**

"Yes," said Ron simply.

**"Oh he dreamed of it," said Harry, "but he knew more than you, knew enough not to do what you've done."**

**"You mean he was weak!" screamed Voldemort. "Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!"**

**"No, he was cleverer than you," said Harry, "a better wizard, a better man."**

Dumbledore stopped reading for a moment, chocked. Fawkes had flown and rested on Harry's knee, who smiled and reach out a hand.

**"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"**

**"You thought you did," said Harry, "but you were wrong."**

"Severus," said Lily in answer, understanding. Voldemort didn't know..

**For the frist time, the watching crowd stirred as the hundreds of people around the walls drew breath as one.**

**"Dumbledore is dead!" Voldemort hurled the words at Harry as though they would cause him unendurable pain. "His body decays in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle, I have seen it, Potter, and he will not return!"**

"Will he?" said Dumbledore, earning some chuckles.

**"Yes, Dumbledore is dead," said Harry calmly, "but you didn't have him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant."**

**"What chlidish dream is this?" said Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and his red eyes did not waver from Harry's.**

Snape smiled. He had always wanted to see Voldemorts reaction when he found out the truth.

**"Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Harry. "Snape was Dumbledore's. **

"I had honesty thought you were going crazy," said Ron, shrugging, ignoring the scowl from Snape in the corner. "But I didn't care. You were alive, and talking like you had the upper hand."

**Dumbledore's from the moment you starting hunting down my mother. And you never realized it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?"**

Lily looked down at her hands, tears threatening to fall down her face. She could only see little, awkward boy from years ago as he told her she was a wizard.

**Voldemort did not answer. They continued to circle each other like wolves about to tear each other apart.**

**"Snape's Patronus was a doe," said Harry, "the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realized," he said as he saw Voldemort's nostrils flare, "he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?" **

Lily swallowed, gripping James's hand. She without a doubt loved her husband, more than anything, but it was still hard to hear such things about your former friend.

**"He desired her, that was all," sneered Voldemort, "but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him - "**

**"Of course he told you that," said Harry, "but he was Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened her, and he's been working against you ever since! Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!"**

**"It matters not!" shrieked Voldemort, who had followed every word with rapt attention, but now let out a cackle of mad laughter. "It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love! Oh, but it all makes sense, Potter, and in ways that you do not understand!**

"He's terrified," said McGonagall. "Things are happening he doesn't understand. He doesn't have the upper hand. Its terrifying him."

**"Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me! He intended that Snape should be the true master of the wand! But I got there ahead of you, little boy - I reached the wand before you could get your hands on it, I understood the truth before you caught up. I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!"**

"He's…he's right Harry," said Dean skeptically. The others in the hall looked at Harry as well.

**"Yeah, it did." said Harry. "You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you think what you've done... Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle. . . ."**

"What?" Dudley said incredulously.

"That's just the type of person Harry is," said James, smiling. He hadn't known his son for that long but he still wasn't shocked.

**"What is this?"**

**Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had shocked Voldemort like this. Harry saw is pupils contract to thin slits, saw the skin around his eyes whiten.**

**"It's your one last chance," said Harry, "it's all you've got left. . . . I've seen what you'll be otherwise. . . . Be a man. . . try. . . Try for some remorse. . . ."**

"That…that thing, right?" asked Bill, sick. "That you saw, when you were with Dumbledore? That was him?"

Harry nodded. "That's what Voldemort would become."

**"You dare - ?" said Voldemort again.**

**"Yes, I dare," said Harry, "because Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all. It's backfired on you, Riddle."**

**Voldemort's hand was trembling on the Elder Wand, and Harry gripped Draco's very tightly. The moment, he knew, was seconds away.**

"Just get it bloody over with," said someone. They'd all had enough of him.

**"That wand still isn't working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."**

**"He killed - "**

"That's not the same as defeating though," Remus muttered, things clicking his head and he know what was happening.

Draco smirked.

**"Aren't you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore instended to die, undefeated, the wand's last true master! If all had gone as planned, the wand's power would have died with him, because it had never been won from him!"**

**"But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand!" Voldemort's voice shook with malicious pleasure. "I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against the last master's wishes! Its power is mine!"**

**"You still don't get it, Riddle, do you? Possessing the wand isn't enough! Holding it, using it, doesn't make it really yours. Didn't you listen to Ollivander? The wand chooses the wizard . . . The Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance . . ."**

"Oh sweat Merlin," Sirius said.

"I can't believe it," James said grinning.

**Voldemort's chest rose and fell rapidly, and Harry could feel the curse coming, feel it building inside the wand pointed at his face.**

"And you didn't even raise your wand," said Ginny. That had scared her the most. Harry – standing straight up, wand by his side, as the Elder wand was directed at his face.

**"The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy."**

**Blank shock showed in Voldemort's face for a moment, but then it was gone.**

**"But what does it matter?" he said softly. "Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: We duel on skill alone . . . and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy . . ."**

"And you…you got Draco's wand," said Ginny slowly, smiling.

**"But you're too late," said Harry. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took his wand from him."**

Draco had never been more relieved at being beaten in his life. Especially by Harry Potter.

**Harry twitched the hawthorn wand, and he felt the eyes of everyone in the Hall upon it.**

"Well of course you did," Ron said. "You practically said that you had the wand that would defeat him."

**"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" whispered Harry. "Does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does . . . I am the true master of the Elder Wand."**

**A red-glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort's was suddenly a flaming blur. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he too yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco's wand:**

Everyone in the hall tensed. The moment they had all been waiting for. Literally. Sixteen years of fighting, decades of war, millions of death, all lead up to this one moment, this one boy, and this one spell.

**"Avada Kedavra!"**

**"Expelliarmus!"**

**The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead center of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry saw Voldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Harry, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward. Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy's shell.**

There was silence at the vivid description. Everyone wanted to burst but no one wanted to ruin the moment. Surprisingly, after a minute or so, the silence was broken by Remus Lupin. His voice was shocked, and dazed, and awed. "Expelliarmus."

Harry looked at Remus, confused, before breaking into a grin. He nodded. "Yeah. Expelliarmus."

The marauders laughed, as everyone broke out into a loud cheer. It was like Voldemort had been defeated all over again. Lily pulled her son into a long, hard hug – and for some odd reason, Harry's mind flashed back to the night of the graveyard years previous, when Molly had hugged him in just the same way, with just the same love. Yet now it was his mother.

"Congratulations, the first marauder to prove Moony wrong," joked Sirius, clapping Harry on the back. He smirked.

"You great prat," muttered Remus, who embraced Harry as well.

It took much time for everyone to calm down. Dumbledore had to remind everyone that there were still a few more pages to be read before they all returned to their seats. Many had tears in their eyes – it was over. All of it.

**One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended: and then the tumult broke around Harry as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air. The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered toward him, and the first to reach him were Ron and Hermione, and it was their arms that were wrapped around him, their incomprehensible shouts that deafened him. **

The Weasley and Grangers smiled sadly, tears falling quickly down their face. "Not a trio of finer friends or people," said Hagrid gruffly, tears leaking greatly. Everyone nodded in agreement.

**Then Ginny, Neville, and Luna were there, and then all the Weasleys and Hagrid, and Kingsley and McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout, and Harry could not hear a word that anyone was shouting, not tell whose hands were seizing him, pulling him, trying to hug some part of him, hundreds of them pressing in, all of them determined to touch the Boy Who Lived, the reason it was over at last -**

Ginny turned to Harry, pressing her lips to his quickly, softly, and only Lily and James saw the quick beat of emotion and love passed on between the two, their smiles widening, their tears falling a bit quicker for their son and the life and he had -

**The sun rose steadily over Hogwarts, and the Great Hall blazed with life and light. **

"Like old times, yeah?" smiled Sirius softly, nudging James. He felt tears swell in his own eyes. Moments like this is truly hit him how much he missed his best mate. How long he'd gone without a brother.

**Harry was an indispensible part of the mingled outpourings of jubilation and mourning, of grief and celebration. They wanted him there with them, their leader and symbol, their savior and their guide, and that he had not slept, that he craved the company of only a few of them, seemed to occur to no one. **

Molly pressed her lips together**. **

**He must speak to the bereaved, clasp their hands, witness their tears, receive their thanks, hear the news now creeping in from every quarter as the morning drew on; that the Imperiused up and down the country had come back to themselves, that Death Eaters were fleeing or else being captured, that the innocent of Azkaban were being released at that very moment, and that Kingsley Shacklebolt had been named temporary Minister of Magic.**

**They moved Voldemort's body and laid it in a chamber off the Hall, away form the bodies of Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Colin Creevey, and fifty others who had died fighting him.**

Fred, Tonks, Lupin and Colin all smiled in appreciation, though there was a bit of sadness. Had it not been for pure luck that would have been their fates forever.

"I still expect a ceremony," said Fred after a moment of silence.

**McGonagall had replaced the House tables, not nobody was sitting according to House anymore: All were jumbled together, teachers and pupils, ghosts and parents, centaurs and house-elves, and Firenze lay recovering in the corner, and Grawp peered in through a smashed window, and people were throwing food into his laughing mouth. After a while, exhausted and drained, Harry found himself sitting on a bench beside Luna.**

**"I'd want some peace and quiet, if it were me," she said.**

**"**Always knew you were smart Luna," Sirius laughed, and Neville squeezed her hand softly.

**"I'd love some," he replied.**

**"I'll distract them all," she said. "Use your cloak."**

"And that," said Cho, smiling. "Is true friendship."

**And before he could say a word, she had cried, "Oooh, look, a Blibbering Humdinger!" and pointed out the window. Everyone who heard looked around, and Harry slid the Cloak up over himself, and got to his feet.**

Harry and many chuckled.

**Now he could move through the Hall without interference. He spotted Ginny two tables away; she was sitting with her head on her mother's shoulder: There would be time to talk later, hours and days and maybe years in which to talk. **

"Years?" said Ginny, spinning around to look at Harry in panic. He fought a smile, which only made her roll her eyes. "Don't rush to me or anything, Harry."

**He saw Neville, the sword of Gryffindor lying beside his plate as he ate, surrounded by a knot of fervent admirers. **

Everyone smiled, especially the Longbottoms and Remus.

**Along the aisle between the tables he walked, and he spotted the three Malfoys, huddled together as though unsure whether or not they were supposed to be there, but nobody was paying them any attention. Everywhere he looked, he saw families reunited, and finally, he saw the two whose company he craved most.**

"I always knew you liked them better than me," Ginny smiled teasingly, making Harry chuckle.

Ron shot her a look. "Last time I checked, he was snogging you, not me."

**"It's me," he muttered, crouching down between them. "Will you come with me?"**

"You know we were having an important conversation there," Ron said.

"Really?" Harry smirked at him. "As I recall you were talking about why you can't just conjure food out of thin air like you can with other things."

"But we were waiting for you," said Hermione quickly, shooting Ron a look. "We'd knew youd come when you were ready, is all."

**They stood up at once, and together he, Ron and Hermione left the Great Hall. Great chunks were missing from the marble staircase, part of the balustrade gone, and rubble and bloodstains occurred ever few steps as their climbed.**

"Sir Dobby and Sir Kreacher helped clean up Masters home for him and his friends!" said Dobby excitedly as Kreacher nodded beside him. Ron sighed, smiling.

"I knew we should have listen to Hermione," he said, shaking his head. "SPEW."

"It's S.P.E-"

He waved her off.

**Somewhere in the distance they could hear Peeves zooming through the corridors singing a victory song of his own composition:**

**We did it, we bashed them, wee Potter's the one,**

**And Voldy's gone moldy, so now let's have fun!**

**"Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn't it?" said Ron, pushing open a door to let Harry and Hermione through.**

Many chuckled.

**Happiness would come, Harry though, but at the moment it was muffled by exhaustion, and the pain of losing Fred and Lupin and Tonks pierced him like a physical wound every few steps. Most of all he felt the most stupendous relief, and a longing to sleep. But first he owed an explanation to Ron and Hermione, who had stuck with him for so long, and who deserved the truth. **

"We could have waited," said Hermione softly, and Ron agreed. They were the only ones who seemed to be talking in the Great Hall. After all, the book was about them, and many respected that.

"I could have," nodded Harry, before looking at Dumbledore. He thought back to the night in the graveyard, when Dumbledore made him explained what happened. "But a wise old man once told me that waiting only made the pain worse."

**Painstakingly he recounted what he had seem in the Pensieve and what had happened in the forest, and they had not even begun to express all their shock and amazement, when at last they arrived at the place to which they had been walking, though none of them had mentioned their destination.**

**Since he had last seen it, the gargoyle guarding the entrance to the headmaster's study had been knocked aside; it stood lopsided, looking a little punch-drunk, and Harry wondered whether it would be able to distinguish passwords anymore.**

**"Can we go up?" he asked the gargoyle.**

**"Feel free," groaned the statue.**

**They clambered over him and onto the spiral stone staircase that moved slowly upward like an escalator. Harry pushed open the door at the top.**

No one spoke. All were contently silent.

**He had one, brief glimpse of the stone Pensieve on the desk where he had left it, and then an earsplitting noise made him cry out, thinking of curses and returning Death Eaters and the rebirth of Voldemort -**

**But it was applause. All around the walls, the headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts were giving him a standing ovation; they waved their hats and in some cases their wigs, they reached through their frames to grip each other's hands; they danced up and down on their chairs in which they have been painted: Dilys Derwent sobbed unashamedly; Dexter Fortescue was waving his ear-trumpet; and Phineas Niggelus called, in his high, reedy voice, "And let it be noted that Slytherin House played its part! Let our contribution not be forgotten!"**

"Yea, they played their part against us all right," muttered Sirius, as everyone clapped and cheered again for Harry. Dumbledore didn't both making them calm down. People were standing, hugging, just like the pictures in the book. The happiness and cheering and love that was taking place in his Hall was so great, he didn't want it to stop. Instead, he heightened his voice and read over the cheers of the people.

**But Harry had eyes only for the man who stood in the largest portrait directly behind the headmaster's chair. Tears were sliding down from behind the half-moon spectacles into the long silver beard, and the pride and the gratitude emanating from him filled Harry with the same balm as phoenix song.**

Fawkes's cry rang out across the hall, as he left Harry's lap. He flew high above the cheers of the people, the laughter, the cries. And it was in that moment, Harry only had eyes for Dumbledore. He saw his whole life played before his eyes, from the moment he entered the castle. The stone, the chamber, Ron and Hermione, Sirius, the Marauders, the tournament, the Order, the Horcruxes – he saw all of it.

**At last, Harry held up his hands, and the portraits fell respectfully silent, beaming and mopping their eyes and waiting eagerly for him to speak. He directed his words at Dumbledore, however, and chose them with enormous care. Exhausted and bleary-eyed though he was, he must make one last effort, seeking one last piece of advice.**

**"The thing that was hidden in the Snitch," he began, "I dropped it in the forest. I don't exactly know where, but I'm not going to go looking for it again. Do you agree?"**

"Of course," said James over the cheers. "You don't need it anymore, anyway. We're all here. Because of you."

**"My dear boy, I do," said Dumbledore, while his fellow pictures looked confused and curious. "A wise and courageous decision, but no less than I would have expected of you. Does anyone know else know where it fell?"**

**"No one," said Harry, and Dumbledore nodded his satisfaction.**

**"I'm going to keep Ignotus's present, though," said Harry, and Dumbledore beamed.**

"Bloody hell you better," James said fiercely, making many laugh. "It yours isn't it? It's been in our family forever."

"Besides, your children Harry, they're sure to wreck havoc," laughed Dean and Seamus, clapping him on the back.

"My children," nodded Harry, smiling. His eyes were distant, years ahead of his own time. He could have those. He could have a family too. And keep his old one. He looked sideways at Ginny and kissed her again.

**"But of course, Harry, it is yours forever, until you pass it on!"**

**"And then there's this."**

**Harry held up the Elder Wand, and Ron and Hermione looked at it with a reverence that, even in his befuddled and sleep-deprived state, Harry did not like to see.**

**"I don't want it." said Harry.**

**"What?" said Ron loudly. "Are you mental?"**

**"I know it's powerful," said Harry wearily. "But I was happier with mine. So . . ."**

**He rummaged in the pouch hung around his neck, and pulled out the two halves of holly still just connected by the finest threat of phoenix feather. Hermione had said that they could not be repaired, that the damage was too severe. All he knew was that if this did not work, nothing would.**

**He laid the broken wand upon the headmaster's desk, touched it with the very tip of the Elder Wand, and said, "Reparo."**

Dumbledore smiled, along with others. Most of the commotion was over, and people were beginning to quiet down.

**As his wand resealed, red sparks flew out of its end. Harry knew that he had succeeded. He picked up the holly and phoenix wand and felt a sudden warmth in his fingers, as though wand and hand were rejoicing at their reunion.**

"Impossible," said Flitwick in amazement.

"Im sorry, I don't think Harry quite knows what that word means," smiled Neville.

**"I'm putting the Elder Wand," he told Dumbledore, who was watching him with enormous affection and admiration, "back where it came from. It can stay there. If I die a natural death like Ignotus, its power will be broken, won't it? The previous master will never have been defeated. That'll be the end of it."**

**Dumbledore nodded. They smiled at each other.**

**"Are you sure?" said Ron. There was the faintest trace of longing in his voice as he looked at the Elder Wand. "It is the Elder Wand," Ron said defensively. "You could do anything with it."**

"Does Harry seem like the type of child to want a powerful and dead wand?" asked Remus, shaking his head.

**"I think Harry's right," said Hermione quietly.**

"Thank god for the brains of the group," smiled Lily softly, making Hermione's parents laugh softly.

**"That wand's more trouble than it's worth." said Harry. "And quite honestly," he turned away from the painted portraits, thinking now only of the four-poster bed lying waiting for him in Gryffindor Tower, and wondering whether Kreacher might bring him a sandwich there, "I've had enough trouble for a lifetime."**

From afar, and reflecting through the Hogwart's glass windows, the sun finally set.


End file.
